City's budget may not have enough fatRussellville officials are facing tough economic times. This year's budget is written in red ink, but that's not the worst of it. This year's spending plan doesn't include many one-time costs. Most of the $600,000 deficit is in the form of operations, maintenance and personnel costs - meaning that those costs will reappear next year, when the city's treasury won't be in shape to take another $600,000 hit. Alderman Cliff Kirchner has asked for ...

U.S. teams leaving Iraq; no weaponsAt this point in America's history, front-of-the-mind images of Gulf War II likely include that huge statue of Saddam Hussein toppling down and President George W. Bush landing on an aircraft carrier as it anchored just off San Diego. But how will history view Gulf War II in the future? That's difficult to say, but one fact should be in the lead paragraph of that report: The stated purpose of going to war in Iraq, the purpose that the administ...

Fiscal crunch leading to new ideasThe federal government is running a deficit, and its fiscal picture isn't any better than many states, counties and municipalities. Most government entities are feeling a pinch. Certainly this state's budget has been hacked on numerous times, and officials haven't yet addressed a court-ordered overhaul of public schools. Local government's coffers aren't exactly overflowing either. Their counterparts across the nation are feeling similar pains...

Hoping for birdie effort at ColonialWe're all for opportunity. We subscribe to the idea that a person ought to be able to go as far as his or her skills and talents will extend - even if that limit exceeds the norm. Next week, Annika Sorenstam, the best female golfer in the world, will tee up from the men's championship box in the PGA's Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. She'll be competing against some of the best male golfers in the world, and she'll be playing on their...

Language police on school patrolThe language police are patrolling America's public school literature classrooms, seeking a forced "relevance" at the expense of reality and offending everyone in the attempt to avoid offending anyone. But they haven't extended their dominance everywhere. At least not yet. We've all seen an occasional example of their work -- the sanitized science books, the lifeless literature books and the history books that lack a sense of past, present or ...

Mostly right actions taken by schoolIt's nice to know that Dover School officials are keeping such a close eye on the weather these days. No doubt, there were plenty of storms - atmospherical and otherwise - rumbling around the Midwest last week, and many of them were dangerous, even deadly. The vigilant officials "locked down" the school Friday, just in case severe weather came along. That was the story we got from Superintendent Dan Lovelady, and he stuck to it, until a Courie...

'Journalist' failed everyoneThis started out as a bad week for journalism. Journalism. That's what readers will find in this newspaper's columns. It's not some talking head on the tube yammering away about today's story of the century and inserting as much opinion as truth. It's not some loudmouth blaring from the speakers, telling listeners how to live their lives while playing by a different set of rules. Journalism. A reporter asking questions and sharing that informa...

Legislators, get ready for more workBefore our state legislators break their arms, patting themselves on the back for their special session "success" last week, they should keep one thing in mind. They didn't have any choice but pass a budget of some sort or watch state government grind to a screeching halt. The screeching would have come from the thousands and thousands of elderly and poor residents whose medical care would have ended. Further, the weeklong session's only drama...

Thanks, Mom, for everythingEarly in the last century, a Philadelphia woman, Ana Jarvis, began something of a crusade. She persuaded her church to celebrate a holiday on the second anniversary of her mother's death. The next year, all of Philadelphia marked the holiday. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May a national holiday, Mother's Day. That's the history of Mother's Day, but there's something more important than the dates and names an...

Lawmakers finally find agreementWell, it took them a week, but state legislators finally arrived at a disagreeable agreement, approving a spending plan for the the state. And nobody seems too happy with the outcome. After a 94-day regular session and a weeklong special session, this budget is probably about as sound as it was going to get. That's not to say that it's a good budget. There are a few things in it that shouldn't be there. It assumes more than $120 million in rev...

Teen violence only breeds more violenceA kid walks into a high school classroom, pulls a pistol that he took from the gun cabinet at home and blows two students away. Why? The kid wasn't wired right. The kid was into drugs. The kid had a migraine. Whatever. All the hand-wringing and psychoanalysis in the world won't do much to bring those two dead teenagers back to life -- or save the other from the life he gave himself with the pull of a trigger. Imagine another high school scene....

Sen. Lincoln upholding right's spiritTO: Sen. Blanche Lincoln RE: Upcoming fund-raising event Sen. Lincoln: We noted an Associated Press report this week that said you are going ahead with plans for a fund-raising event later this summer that will feature a concert by country music stars the Dixie Chicks. You're aware that the Chicks have been named Public Enemy No. 5 - behind Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, anyone who says the country can't afford tax cuts for the wealthy at th...

City could benefit from grant writerRussellville officials next week will consider whether to hire a consulting firm to seek grants for various programs and projects. Finnegan and Associates Inc. of Little Rock is the firm, and its literature guarantees results. That's all well and good, and the idea looks like a fine idea at first blush. But there's a catch. There always is. Although the firm "guarantees" that it will obtain grants far in excess of its retainer fee, the firm do...

Media folks in agreement on lawmakersMedia folks get a lot of grief for all sorts of reasons. But there is one thing about people who spend their days and nights hanging around newsmakers - they know what's going on. For example, there aren't many people who know more about what's going on at the state Capitol than the reporters who spend hours and hours there each week and then go elsewhere in search of more information about the goingson at the dome. That's why it was interesti...

Class of 2003 ready to start brand new lifeWe normally use this space to talk about what the older folks are doing with and to and for our world. More often than not, we find that many of them aren't doing as much as they could to keep things on the right track. Oh, well ... Today, we'll address the younger adults. The Class of 2003. The folks who have a great opportunity before them to do what many of their predecessors haven't. Look elsewhere in this edition, and you'll find pages an...

Watchful eyes needed for our childrenOn the same day that President George W. Bush signed into law a measure to create a national missing child alert, a 3-year-old boy in Wynne wandered away from home. He was lost for just about a day, despite the efforts of hundreds of volunteers to locate him. They found him a little shaken up but in much better shape than many of them feared. Whenever a child disappears, we hope that the child wandered away or got lost in the woods. We hope fo...

Legislators set to tackle state budgetLegislators are on the verge of going back to Little Rock for one of likely several special sessions. Sending these folks back to the state Capitol doesn't seem like a good idea. After all, they loused up in huge fashion their first attempt at a legislative session. They failed to take substantive action on any matter -- except to submit a measure to amend term limits and ostensibly extend their lawmaking careers. Regardless, this first specia...

Bush's warFor the short duration of Gulf War II, we read and listened to and watched the Iraqi information minister hold press conferences that were nothing if not humorous. How could this guy keep a straight face while he was contending that Iraq would crush the invaders? He was spouting his goofball propaganda up until the moment U.S. forces burst through the front door and he scampered out the back. We laughed at his ridiculous statements, easily dis...

Good news for earners, consumersNearly hidden on The Associated Press wire Tuesday - stuck between "Nuclear plant fire" and "Cruise ship threats," and just above "Missing boy" and "Half of world contracts SARS" (OK, just kidding on that one) - was the latest report about the state of the U.S. economy. Reading economy stories in the past year hasn't been a special treat. Unemployment has steadily climbed. Sales haven't been where the sellers wanted them. Political situations ...

Preach to us governorGov. Mike Huckabee has two qualities that will serve him well in the coming special sessions, if he will use them to his full ability. First is the charisma that is almost a job requirement for a successful Southern Baptist preacher, which is the first item on his resume. In almost all situations, the governor projects sincerity, honesty and clarity of vision. Second, the governor has a genuinely good heart. A few years ago, during a luncheon ...